Property Record
717 S BEAUMONT RD
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Fort Crawford Military Hospital |
|---|---|
| Other Name: | Fort Crawford Military Hospital Museum |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 3897 |
| Location (Address): | 717 S BEAUMONT RD |
|---|---|
| County: | Crawford |
| City: | Prairie du Chien |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
| Direction: | |
| Section: | |
| Quarter Section: | |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: |
| Year Built: | 1829 |
|---|---|
| Additions: | 1934 |
| Survey Date: | 2002 |
| Historic Use: | hospital |
| Architectural Style: | Gabled Ell |
| Structural System: | Masonry |
| Wall Material: | Stone - Unspecified |
| Architect: | Works Projects Administration |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Second Fort Crawford Military Hospital |
|---|---|
| National Register Listing Date: | 10/15/1966 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. Of the many garrisons the army built in the Old Northwest after the War of 1812, Fort Crawford ranked among the most strategic, for it guarded the western end of the Fox-Wisconsin river passage, the vital link between the Upper Mississippi and the Great Lakes. Originally the fort occupied a flood-prone site, so it was replaced in 1829-1835. A hospital, built around 1835, stood just outside the walls of the new stockade. The complex was mothballed in 1856, reoccupied during the Civil War, then permanently abandoned in 1865. By the early twentieth century, when the Daughters of the American Revolution bought the site, only the hospital’s foundation and north wall remained. The Works Progress Administration collaborated with the DAR in 1934 to reconstruct the hospital. One of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Depression-era employment programs, the WPA hired workers for various construction tasks including the rehabilitation and reconstruction of historic buildings. Unfortunately, many of the buildings the agency supposedly preserved resembled the originals more in spirit than in fact. The Second Fort Crawford Military Hospital looks only faintly like its predecessor, and the long side of its L shape runs parallel to the river, rather than perpendicular as the original’s did. Nonetheless, the reconstruction conveys the hospital’s general appearance, one common for frontier army forts. A low-pitched hipped roof shelters the native stone walls, and a colonnaded porch runs underneath the wide-overhanging eaves, fronting the long side of the L. Simple architraves frame the doors and six-over-six windows. Today, the State Medical Society uses the building for a medical history museum. DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT BEGAN HIS RESEARCH INTO THE HUMAN DIGESTIVE TRACT HERE, IN THE OLD HOSPITAL. HIS WORK WAS PUBLISHED IN 1833. HE WAS NOT ASSOCIATED W/THE NEW BUILDING. NHL. Built by the WPA on the site of the original hospital using the foundation and the north wall of the original c1835 building. |
|---|---|
| Bibliographic References: | KOHLER, PP. 70-71. PERRIN 1960, P. 27. LACROSSE TRIBUNE 5/3/1996. Lacrosse Tribune 5/19/2002. Preliminary Survey of Historic and Architectural Resources. December 1993. Prepared by Joan M. Rausch for Mid-State Associates, Inc. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. Perrin, Richard W. E., Historic Wisconsin Architecture, First Revised Edition (Milwaukee, 1976). |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |